


Gift

by Leni



Category: Blood+
Genre: Christmas, F/M, Surprises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-10
Updated: 2012-02-10
Packaged: 2017-10-30 21:36:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/336425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/pseuds/Leni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zoo era. Christmas at the Goldschmidt residence.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gift

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [12 Days of Ficmas](http://12-daysofficmas.livejournal.com/profile).

Isolated as the Zoo remains, it has been impossible to keep some things from Saya. She isn't fond of reading, other than maybe a fashion magazine; she is even more weary of boredom, though, and long winter afternoons offer poor entertainment when even Hagi is hesitant to join her into the cold gardens. Every couple of weeks, she'll tire of the games and the stories Hagi has brought to occupy her with - or the combination she's invented between them. Since early into his stay at the Zoo, Saya turned her choice of a book into another game, letting Hagi do the picking for her, and punishing him by having him read it aloud to her if she found the plot too boring for her taste.

Through his voice, she picks out detail after detail about the exterior world. Little things: names of fruits and dishes she hasn't tasted before, which Joel then brings in to please her; descriptions of far off countries where, Joel promises, she'll go one day.

But sometimes she focuses on something big, even when she doesn't quite understand it. That's how they all ended up celebrating Christmas, keeping every traditions that Saya could glean from her readings.

Tonight it's only the three of them in the sitting room. Amshel is away on another trip, Hagi would say with all honesty that he doesn't miss the older man. The atmosphere is somehow lighter for his absence, and even though Joel seems impervious to the change, Hagi can tell that Saya's movement are the more fluid, the more graceful when she doesn't have Amshel's glare bothering her.

"Try not to rip the paper this time, Saya," Joel says as he deposits a wrapped package on Saya's lap.

"Sure, Joel." She smiles in thanks, and is able to cut patiently through the first layer before impatience grows and she attacks the small package. "I'm so sorry!" she gasps, though both men knows she doesn't mean it. "But I'm too curious. What can it be?" The wrapping paper is tossed to the side, and Saya holds in one hand the revealed gift. "Oh, Joel…."

Joel doesn't notice. But he never notices much about Saya beyond what he can note down in his books. 

Hagi cares more about the details. Like the fact that Saya's smile has faltered and its replacement is a pale facsimile. If anyone were to ask him, he would tell them that Saya doesn't need another music box, no matter how precious the wood or how detailed the carvings are.

But nobody thinks to ask him.

"It's beautiful," Saya follows the script, dutifully opening the lid and smiling further when the slow waltz envelops the sitting room. "Thank you."

Joel nods, satisfied with her reaction.

The small party breaks after another half hour, and Saya doesn't seem to notice that Hagi has followed her to her rooms until he calls her name. "I got you something, too," he announces when her hand is poised over the door handle.

"You did?" She turns, and one dark eyebrow has raised in puzzlement. "How?"

Hagi doesn't blush; the last decade has made him well used to her bluntness. "I left it under your bed," he tells her, nodding toward the door.

This smile, he recognizes. It's a grin, really, and it grows into a sunny beam as she rushes into her room, a flurry of pink skirts and black hair, and flings the music box onto the mattress in her haste to kneel by the bed.

Hagi enters the bedroom with a more sedated pace, committing the moment to memory as Saya practically dives in to retrieve her gift. "Did you find it?"

"It's a… basket?" She returns to a sitting position, pulling the hand-woven basket closer, and gasps when she lifts the covering cloth. "A kitten!" 

Her face pales, and she glances up at him with such a betrayed expression that Hagi fists his hands not to rush to her and take her hand in his to soothe her and beg permission to explain himself. "I know that you aren't fond of most animals." More like, she's been forbidden to wander close to the barn or the horse stalls because the animals go into a frenzy trying to escape. "But look at him, he's not going anywhere."

It is true. The kitten's green eyes are wide and alert, tracking Saya's slightest movement, but it stays within the basket, pressed against the corner but still inside. Hagi breathes in relief - compared to entire nights of pitiful meowing as the kitten found itself surrounded by old pairs of Saya's gloves, this behavior is a reward. "Give it some time to get used to his new home," he tells his mistress.

Saya gives a little nod, but her attention is on the kitten that has stopped shivering. She looks at it in wonder, and though she doesn't yet dare to pick it up, her gaze softens as she studies her gift. "It's _beautiful._ " Slowly, she reaches out to pet the tip of the furry tail, and smiles when the kitten doesn't flick it away. "Joel said I could keep it?"

Joel showed some curiosity at the prospect of Saya bonding with an animal. Hagi reminds himself that he doesn't have the means to take her away, that all he can do is to stay by her side. "He did," he answers, keeping the details to himself. She is Joel's darling experiment, just as he is hers.

If his smile falters at the reminder of their real place in this household, she's too happily distracted to notice.

That's for the best, Hagi thinks as he goes to one knee next to her. "What will you name him?"

Saya shrugs. "Do I need to know now?"

"No." Hagi may not know the details, but he knows she has all the time in the world. "But tell me when you make a decision?"

She tears her eyes away from the kitten and grins at him, affection as clear as happiness. "Of course, Hagi. Who else would I tell?"

 

The End  
29/12/09


End file.
